MS: Who's Suing Now?

Share

MS: Who's Suing Now?

MOBILE, Alabama – Computer software giant Microsoft, fresh from the launch of its newest operating system, said Wednesday it had filed piracy lawsuits against five companies in Alabama and Mississippi.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft alleged three companies in Mississippi and two others in Alabama had violated copyright and trademark rights by distributing counterfeit software Microsoft software to customers and investigators.

Microsoft, the world's leading software company, said it had learned of the alleged piracy mostly through tips to a hot line. It said each of the companies named in the lawsuits had continued to distribute unauthorized software even after receiving warnings to stop.

"By distributing incomplete, unlicensed software, these resellers not only hurt customers but compromise the health of honest businesses up and down the supply chain," said Nick Psyhogeos, Microsoft's corporate attorney in Washington, D.C.

The lawsuits, filed in federal courts in Mobile, Alabama, and Jackson, Mississippi, came just days after Microsoft rolled out Windows 2000, the newest version of its popular operating system.

Psyhogeos said Microsoft had filed similar lawsuits in Alabama last year, all of which had been settled.

Earlier this month, the company acknowledged it was assembling a high-tech arsenal to combat counterfeiting and unauthorized use of its products, which has been made easier by the Internet.

Illegal software accounts for 25 percent of all programs installed on U.S. computers. The practice has become so lucrative in the United States that organized crime has taken to bankrolling sophisticated counterfeiting operations.

In the U.S. South, where the concentration of personal computers is lower than in other areas of the nation, the problem appears pandemic. Industry specialists estimate close to 50 percent of computers in Mississippi are running pirated software, the highest rate in the nation. The news is not much better in neighboring Alabama, which claims a 42 percent piracy rate.

A recent study by International Planning & Research Corp. found that software piracy cost the two states an estimated 3,200 jobs in 1998, representing about $77 million in lost wages and salaries.

"With Mississippi having a high software piracy rate, honest businesses like mine are finding it difficult to compete, often losing bids to resellers who sell counterfeit software at unreasonably low prices," said Mike Treat, president of American Computer Services in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Microsoft said it was seeking a permanent injunction to stop the violations and would likely demand an undisclosed monetary compensation. It said the defendants in the case had 20 days to respond to the allegations.

The companies named in the suits are PCS Computer Services and Quest Computers, both in Mobile; The Computer Doctor and Eagle Computers in McComb, Mississippi; and DataStar Inc. in Picayune, Mississippi.

Microsoft (MSFT) rose 3/16 to 94 a share in early afternoon trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange.